Title

Presence of Trout Populations in Unassessed Streams of North Central Pennsylvania

Start Date

21-11-2014 8:00 PM

End Date

21-11-2014 10:00 PM

Description

While Pennsylvania has over 64,000 waterways, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission only has data on approximately 7,000 of these waters. Created in 2010, The Unassessed Waters Initiative is a collaboration between the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and Pennsylvania colleges to visit headwater tributaries that have never been assessed to determine the presence and status of wild trout populations. Data collected from the Unassessed Waters Initiative is used by the Fish and Boat Commission to help correctly classify and protect high quality streams from environmental alterations and degradation. Streams classified as wild trout waters receive greater protection under PA Code and wetlands of wild trout streams protected as Exceptional Value Wetlands. Since 2011, Susquehanna University has assessed 500 streams for the Initiative. During summer 2014 we surveyed over 170 previously unassessed tributary streams throughout north central Pennsylvania looking for the presence of trout populations via backpack electrofishing. Historical data indicates that approximately 50% of unassessed waters in North Central Pennsylvania are found to have trout species present. Efforts in 2014 were focused on the assessment of un-named tributary streams. In addition to sampling these streams for fish species according to PFBC protocols, we collected water quality and benthic macroinvertebrate data at study sites.

Type

Poster

Session

Poster Presentations

Language

eng

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Nov 21st, 8:00 PM Nov 21st, 10:00 PM

Presence of Trout Populations in Unassessed Streams of North Central Pennsylvania

Elaine Langone Center, Terrace Room

While Pennsylvania has over 64,000 waterways, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission only has data on approximately 7,000 of these waters. Created in 2010, The Unassessed Waters Initiative is a collaboration between the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and Pennsylvania colleges to visit headwater tributaries that have never been assessed to determine the presence and status of wild trout populations. Data collected from the Unassessed Waters Initiative is used by the Fish and Boat Commission to help correctly classify and protect high quality streams from environmental alterations and degradation. Streams classified as wild trout waters receive greater protection under PA Code and wetlands of wild trout streams protected as Exceptional Value Wetlands. Since 2011, Susquehanna University has assessed 500 streams for the Initiative. During summer 2014 we surveyed over 170 previously unassessed tributary streams throughout north central Pennsylvania looking for the presence of trout populations via backpack electrofishing. Historical data indicates that approximately 50% of unassessed waters in North Central Pennsylvania are found to have trout species present. Efforts in 2014 were focused on the assessment of un-named tributary streams. In addition to sampling these streams for fish species according to PFBC protocols, we collected water quality and benthic macroinvertebrate data at study sites.